How Trump’s Attacks on Gov. Whitmer Backfired

It’s not unusual for presidents and governors of two different parties to disagree on policy, but it has become personal between President Trump and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

“It started to really kind of define both how Gov. Whitmer had gone about managing the pandemic and how President Trump had gone about managing the pandemic.” – Chad Livengood, Crain’s Detroit Business.

The two haven’t just clashed. They’ve scorched each other publicly, especially since the pandemic reached our state. And Trump made his re-election efforts here largely about “that woman from Michigan.”

Turns out, that wasn’t a winning strategy, as Chad Livengood writes this week in Crain’s Detroit Business.

Listen: Chad Livengood of Crain’s Detroit Business talks about the election and how Republican lawmakers in Michigan are reacting.

Guest

Chad Livengood is senior editor at Crain’s Detroit Business. He says the “Trump-Whitmer feud” began in the early days of the pandemic and has only escalated since.

“It started to really kind of define both how Gov. Whitmer had gone about managing the pandemic and how President Trump had gone about managing the pandemic,” Livengood tells Stephen Henderson on Detroit Today.

“And that issue kind of started to continue to show up in the polls as people got asked who do you approve of as far as their handling of the pandemic. Gov. Whitmer has been getting 60% approval ratings and President Trump has been getting 40% or sub-40% approval ratings. And that has remained consistent all year long even in the ups and downs and despite all of the criticisms that Gov. Whitmer has taken for her management of the pandemic.”